MOS-Based Power Semiconductor Device Having Increased Current Carrying Area and Method of Fabricating Same

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device includes at least a first lateral MOSFET formed on a semiconductor substrate. The first lateral MOSFET has an interface defined by a plurality of trenches along which the current flow can be modulated by a perpendicular electric field. The portion of the interface lies on a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the substrate. The interface is configured such that at least a portion of the current flow along the portion of the interface that lies on a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the substrate is in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the substrate.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/557,731, filed Aug. 30, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/006,571, filed Jun. 12, 2018, issued as U.S.Pat. No. 10,403,720, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/027,629, filed Apr. 6, 2016, issued as U.S. Pat. No.9,997,599, which is a 371 of International Application No.PCT/US2014/015609, filed Feb. 10, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/887,485, filed Oct. 7, 2013, whichis incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to power semiconductor devices,and in particular, to power MOSFETs and other MOS-based power switchingdevices, as well as other forms of power switching devices that utilizeMOS-based, JFET-based, and MESFET-based control elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Advances have been made in metal oxide semiconductor field effecttransistors (MOSFETs). One design consideration is the on-resistance ofthe transistor as compared to the area of the device.

FIG. 2 shows a top-view photograph of an array 10 of cells 12 of a priorart silicon carbide SiC double-implanted MOSFET (DMOSFET). Morespecifically, the array includes a plurality of interdigitated sourcefingers 14 and gate fingers 16. FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectionalview of a cell 12 (and part of another cell) of the array 10 includingone gate finger 16 and parts of two source fingers 14. As shown in FIG.1a , the DMOSFET cell 12 includes a drain contact layer, e.g., a nickellayer 20, a substrate 22, a drift region 24, a base region 26, a sourceregion 28, a source contact 30, a conductive gate 32, a gate insulator34, and a top contact layer 36.

The substrate 22 is an SiC substrate of a first dopant type (N+) havinga high dopant concentration. The drift region 24 is also of the firstdopant type, but has a lower dopant concentration (N−), less than thefirst high concentration. The base region 26 comprises implanted wellsof a second dopant type, e.g., a P− base. The source regions 28 are alsoof the first dopant type and have a high concentration, e.g., N+ sourceregions. The gate finger 16 defines a gate region that includes the gateinsulator 34, which may be an oxide region, and the conductive gate 32,which may suitably be a polysilicon gate. The top metal contact layer 36directly abuts the source contact 30 and the gate insulator 34. The topmetal contact layer 36 provides an electrical connection to the sourcecontact 30. The top metal contact layer 36 is electrically insulatedfrom the gate 32 by the gate insulator 34.

In operation, when a voltage is applied to the gate conductor 32, aninversion layer is formed near the top of the p-base region 26, and ann-type accumulation layer is formed near the top of the drift region 24.As a result current flows between the source and draining via the sourceregion, the inversion layer in the P-base region 26, the drift region24, and the semiconductor substrate 22.

While only one portion of the DMOSFET is shown in FIG. 1a , it isunderstood that these portions duplicate in a repeated fashion, as shownin FIG. 2.

One performance metric for power MOSFETs is the specific on-resistance,defined as the product of device area and device resistance in thelinear region. Several factors contribute to the specific on-resistance,but the most important are (i) channel resistance, (ii) sourceresistance, (iii) JFET resistance (i.e. resistance of the portion of thedrift region that lies between the P base regions), (iv) drift regionresistance, and (v) drain resistance.

While the above design provides for relatively advantageouson-resistance characteristics, new designs are needed to lessenresistance-area product of a MOS devices by reducing on-resistance,device area, or both.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an objective of device design to reduce both the on-resistance andthe device area simultaneously so as to achieve the minimumresistance-area product. At least some embodiments of the presentinvention address the above-stated needs, as well as others, byproviding a MOSFET design in which at least some portion of the channelrelated areas have increased surface area through the use of lateraltrenches having side walls and bottom walls that run parallel withcurrent flow through the channel.

A first embodiment is a semiconductor device that includes at least afirst lateral MOSFET formed on a semiconductor substrate. The firstlateral MOSFET has an interface defined by a plurality of trenches alongwhich the current flow can be modulated by a perpendicular electricfield. The portion of the interface lies on a plane substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the substrate. The interface is configuredsuch that at least a portion of the current flow along the portion ofthe interface that lies on a plane substantially perpendicular to theplane of the substrate is in a direction substantially parallel to theplane of the substrate.

A corresponding method for fabricating a semiconductor device includesforming first and second spaced apart base regions and source regions ina substrate with a portion of a drift region therebetween. The methodfurther includes forming at least a first trench extending laterallythrough the base region, the drift region and the source region, thefirst trench extending vertically partially through the source region.The method also includes forming a first oxide layer over the trenchedupper surface, and forming a polysilicon layer over the first oxidelayer. The polysilicon layer is patterned to form the gate conductor,and a drain contact is formed on a bottom surface of the semiconductorsubstrate.

The above described features and advantages, as well as others, willbecome more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art byreference to the following detailed description and the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a cell of astripe-geometry DMOSFET according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows a top-view photograph of the prior art DMOSFET of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary cell (andpart of another cell) of a DMOSFET device that implements a firstembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a cutaway perspective side view of a portion of the deviceof FIG. 3 taken along line Iv-Iv with the gate conductor, gate insulatorand top contact layer removed for clarity of exposition;

FIG. 5 shows a fragmentary, cutaway, perspective view of the cell ofFIGS. 3 and 4 with the gate conductor, gate insulator and top contactlayer removed for clarity of exposition;

FIG. 6 shows another fragmentary, cutaway, perspective view of the cellof FIGS. 3 and 4 with the gate conductor and portions of the gateinsulator thereof. The entire gate insulator is not shown for clarity ofexposition.

FIG. 7 shows a cutaway view of the cell of FIG. 3 showing current pathsincluding horizontal wall paths and vertical wall paths;

FIG. 8 shows a photograph of vertical trenches which may be used as thetrenches in the device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 shows a fragmentary, cutaway view of an alternative deviceforming a lateral MOSFET implementing an embodiment of invention;

FIG. 10A shows a substrate having the semiconductor substrate and an N−region;

FIG. 10B shows the substrate of FIG. 10A with P-base regions and sourceregions formed;

FIG. 10C shows the substrate of FIG. 10B with a carbon cap is formedover the top surface;

FIG. 10D shows the substrate of FIG. 10C with trenches formed therein;

FIG. 10E shows the substrate of FIG. 10D with a thin oxide layer andpolysilicon layer formed therein;

FIG. 10F shows the substrate of FIG. 10E with a single strip of thepolysilicon layer that forms the gate conductor;

FIG. 10G shows the substrate of FIG. 10F with an oxide layer formed onthe top and sides of the polysilicon gate conductor;

FIG. 1011 shows the substrate of FIG. 10F after a light etching removesan oxide layer;

FIG. 11A shows a top plan view of a device employing a cellular surfacelayout of repeating square devices; and

FIG. 11B shows and an orthogonal slice of the cellular surface layoutFIG. 11A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary cell 112(and part of another cell) of a DMOSFET device 110 that implements afirst embodiment of the invention. The cell 112 shown in FIG. 3 includesone gate finger 116 and parts of two source fingers 114. The device 110preferably includes several interdigitated gate fingers and sourcefingers of the same design. In other words, the device 110 may suitablyhave a general layout similar to that of the prior art device of FIG. 2,wherein the array includes a plurality of interdigitated gate fingers116 and source fingers 114. The DMOSFET cell 110 includes a draincontact layer 120, a semiconductor substrate 122, a drift region 124, abase region 126, a source region 128, a source contact 130, a conductivegate 132, a gate insulator 134, and a top contact layer 136. The cell112 and the semiconductor device 110 have a first surface 110 a (bottom)and a vertically opposite second surface 110 b (top).

The semiconductor substrate 122 extends upward from the first surface110 a and is doped with a first dopant type at a first concentration. Inthis embodiment, the first dopant type is an N dopant type, and a seconddopant type is a P dopant type. However, it will be appreciated that thefirst and second dopant types in other embodiments can be reversed, suchthat the P dopant type is the first dopant type and the N dopant type isthe second dopant type. In this embodiment, the first concentration ofthe first dopant type (N) is a relatively high concentration, symbolizedby the N+ designation. The substrate 122 in this embodiment is an SiCsubstrate. However, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments,other substrate materials may be used, such as silicon, GaAs, GaN, andother elemental and compound semiconductors.

The drift region 124 is disposed above the semiconductor substrate 122.The drift region 124 is doped with the first dopant type at a secondconcentration, wherein the second concentration less than the firstconcentration. In other words, the drift region 124 is more lightlydoped than the semiconductor substrate 122, and is characterized in thisembodiment as an N-doping. The drift region 124 extends upward in thisembodiment from the substrate 122, and has a topology at the top definedat least in part by the source region 128 and base region 126. A portionof the drift region 124 extends to or adjacent to the top surface 110 bof the device 110. In some embodiments, a more strongly doped, thin, Nepilayer is also formed at the top of the drift region 124.

FIG. 3 shows parts of two source regions 128 from adjacent transistorcells. Each source region 128 is doped with the first dopant type at athird concentration. The third concentration may also be relativelyhigh, designated also as an N+ region in this embodiment. Each sourceregion 128 is positioned over a portion of the drift region 124, andbeside the portion of the drift region 124 that extends to near the topsurface 110 b. The source region 128 also extends to near the topsurface 110 b.

Each base region 126 is disposed between the source region 128 and thedrift region 124. The base region 126 is doped with the second dopanttype, which in the embodiment described herein in a P-type doping.Although not shown in FIG. 3, the base region 126 includes at least onetrench having at least a first vertical wall and at least a firsthorizontal wall, and is configured to conduct current in a horizontaldirection on the first vertical wall and in a horizontal direction onthe first horizontal wall. In this embodiment, as will be discussedbelow, the at least one trench further extends into and through thesource region 128 and the drift region 124.

The gate insulator 134 and the gate conductor 132 form a gate regiondisposed above the drift region 124, above a portion of the base region126, and above a portion of the source regions 128. The gate conductor132 may be formed of any suitable conductor, and in this embodiment isformed of polysilicon. The gate conductor 132 is separated from thedrift region 124, the base region 126, and the source region 128 by thegate insulator 134. The gate insulator 134 may suitably be an oxide.

The drain contact 120 is a conductive material, such as a metallizationlayer, coupled to the semiconductor substrate 122 at the first surface110 a. In the embodiment employing an N+ SiC substrate 122, the draincontact may suitably be made of Ni. Other materials may be used,particularly with other substrates.

Each base region 126 forms a further region disposed between the sourceregion 128 and the drift region 124. Although not shown in FIG. 3, thebase region 126 includes at least one trench having at least a firstvertical wall and at least a first horizontal wall, and is configured toconduct current in a horizontal direction on the first vertical wall andin a horizontal direction on the first horizontal wall. In thisembodiment, as will be discussed below, the at least one trench furtherextends into and through the source region 128 and the drift region 124.

FIG. 4 shows a cutaway perspective side view of a portion of the deviceof FIG. 3 taken along line IV-IV. In FIG. 4, the gate conductor 132,gate insulator 134 and top contact layer 136 have been removed forclarity of exposition.

As shown in FIG. 4, the cell 112 includes a plurality of trenches 202,204, 206, 208 formed horizontally, but in a directly transverse to thesource fingers 114 and gate fingers 116. The trench 204 includes twovertical walls 210, 212 and a bottom horizontal wall 214 extendingtherebetween. The vertical walls 210, 212 and the horizontal wall 214extend in a horizontal direction proximate to and along the top surface110 b of the device 110 through the uppermost portions of the driftregion 124, the base 126 and the source region 128.

FIG. 5 shows another fragmentary, cutaway, perspective view of the cell112 of FIGS. 3 and 4 with the gate conductor 132, gate insulator 134 andtop contact layer 136 also removed for clarity of exposition. The viewof the cell in FIG. 5 shows both of the base regions 126 and sourceregions 128, and the portion of the drift region 124 that extends to ornear the top surface 110 b of the device 110. As shown in FIG. 5, thetrenches 202, 204, and so forth extend through the drift region 124 andare therefore continuous through multiple cells 112 of the device 110.These trenches 202, 204 run perpendicular to the direction of the sourcefingers 114 and the gate fingers 116.

FIG. 6 shows yet another cutaway, perspective view of the cell 112similar to FIG. 5, but with the gate conductor 132 and portions of thegate insulator 134 added back in. As shown in FIG. 6, at least the gateconductor 132 has a shape that conforms to the trenches 202, 204, 206.The bottom of the gate insulator 134 also conforms to the trenches 202,204, 206, as does the bottom of the source contact 130. The tops of thegate insulator 134 and source contact 130 may or may not conform to thetrench shape. As shown in FIGS. 4-6, the source contact 130 may suitablyhave a flat top surface 130 a.

In operation, when a voltage is applied to the gate conductor 132, aninversion layer is formed near the top of the p-base region 126 on boththe vertical walls (e.g. 210, 212) and the horizontal (bottom) walls(e.g. 214) of the trenches 202, 204, 206 extending therethrough, as wellas through the portion of the p-base regions 126 (near or at the topsurface 110 b) between adjacent trenches 202, 204 and 206. Similarly, ann-type accumulation layer is formed on or near the vertical walls 210,212 and horizontal walls 214 of the trenches 202, 204, 206 in the driftregion 124, as well as through the portions of drift region 124 near orat the top surface 110 b that are between adjacent trenches 202, 204 and206. As a result, a horizontal current path 220 is formed between thesource region 128 and the top part of the drift region 124 through thebase region 126 via the vertical side walls 210, 212, the horizontalwalls 214, and the top surface area between, the trenches 202, 204, andso forth.

Charge carriers, electrons in this embodiment, flow through thishorizontal current path from the source to the drain via source region128, the inversion layer in the p-base region 126, the drift region 124,and through the semiconductor substrate 122 to the drain contact 120.The flow of charge carriers constitutes the current flow in the device110. Thus, the current flows in the same horizontal current path, butfrom source to drain since the charge carriers are electrons in thisembodiment.

Thus, the device 110 of FIGS. 3-6 forms a three-dimensional-gate (3G)arrangement in which vertical trenches 202, 204, 206 are formedperpendicular to the gate and source fingers 114, 116, as shown in FIGS.3-6. These trenches 202, 204, 206 expose sidewall (vertical wall) facesas well as horizontal faces, without increasing cell area. Thisarrangement increases the effective channel width by 2-3 times, and withdeeper wells, the effective channel width can be increased by 4-8 times.FIG. 7 shows a cutaway view of the cell 112 similar to FIG. 5, butshowing current paths 220 including horizontal wall paths 222 andvertical wall paths 224. The horizontal wall paths 222 collectivelyprovide current carrying capacity roughly equivalent to conventionaldevices, while the vertical wall paths 224 provide additional currentpaths made possible by the embodiment described herein. The widerchannel, coupled with the possibly higher mobility on the sidewallplanes, will reduce the channel resistance 3-4 times (or 6-8 times withdeeper wells). Because the trenches 202, 204, and so forth extend underthe source contacts 130 as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 6, the sourcecontact area is similarly increased, reducing the source resistance.

FIG. 8 shows a photograph of a vertical trenches which may be used asthe trenches 202, 204 and so forth of FIGS. 3-6. The trenches of FIG. 8are up to 2.5 μm deep, with sub-micron period. However, these depths andperiodicity are provided for exemplary reasons and not intended to belimiting.

FIG. 9 shows a fragmentary, cutaway view of an alternative device 300forming a lateral MOSFET, the device 300 having a top surface 300 a. Thealternative device 300 includes at least the following elements: asubstrate 302, a base region 304 disposed over the substrate 302, asource region 306, a drift region 308, a drain region 310, a gate region312, and a source contact 314. In this embodiment, the drain region 310,the drift region 308 and the source region 306 all have the same firstdopant type, and the base region 304 has a second dopant type. In thisembodiment, the first dopant type is an N type dopant, and the seconddopant type is a P type dopant. However, in other embodiments, thedopant types may be reversed.

In this embodiment, the base region 304 is a P-doped region disposedover the substrate 302, and which includes an upward extending verticalportion 304 a that extends to or near the top surface 300 a.

The drain region 310 in this embodiment is highly doped (N+) and isdisposed over a portion of the base region 304 and terminates at or nearthe top surface 300 a. The drift region 308 is a lightly doped (N−)region disposed above the P-base region 304. The drift region 308 alsoabuts the drain region 310 on one side and may also extend partiallyunder the drain region 310, and the vertical portion 304 a of the P-baseregion 304 on the other side. The source region 306 is a relativelyhighly doped (N+) region that is disposed over a portion of the baseregion 304 and abuts the opposite side of the vertical portion 304 a ofthe base region 304. Thus, the vertical portion 304 a of the base region304 abuts the source 306 on one side, and the drift region 308 on theother.

The gate region 312 includes a gate conductor and a gate insulatorhaving the general structure of the gate conductor 132 and gateinsulator 134 of FIGS. 3-6. The gate conductor of the gate region 312extends over the vertical portion 304 a of the base region 304, over aportion of the source region 306, and over a portion of the drift region308.

Similar to the embodiment of FIGS. 3-6, the device 300 of FIG. 9 alsoincludes trenches 320, 322, and so forth. The trench 322 includesvertical walls 324, 326 and a horizontal bottom wall 328, and extends atleast from a portion of the source region 306, the vertical portion 304a, and into the drift region 308, and possibly also extending into thedrain region 310. The other trenches 320 and so forth have asubstantially similar structure. The trenches 320, 322 may suitably runparallel to each other. The operation of the device 300 is similar to aconventional lateral power MOSFET, except the additional horizontalcurrent paths are created by the vertical walls 324, 326 of trenches320, 322.

As with the DMOSFET, the lateral MOSFET of FIG. 9 may be doped witheither dopant type (i.e., P or N), or made semi-insulating.

Thus, the devices 110 and 300 provide enhanced surface area at theinterface along which current flows under the influence of a gatevoltage (or other field inducing feature of the device). In the devicesabove, the interface is the area under the gates 132, 312 and at or nearthe surface of the base regions 126, 304, source regions 128, 306 and/ordrift regions 124, 308. In general, the trenches or other features canbe implemented to increase the surface area of an interface along whichthe current flow can be modulated by a perpendicular electric field. Asa result of the trench or other feature, surface area is increasedbecause at least a portion of the interface lies on a planesubstantially perpendicular to the plane of the substrate. The interfaceis configured such that at least a portion of the current flow along theportion of the interface that lies on a plane substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the substrate is in a directionsubstantially parallel to the plane of the substrate. The improvement inthe on-resistance per surface area can be realized in other devices,including other MOS-based power devices such as IGBTs, MCTs, orMESFET-based or JFET-based devices. In other words, the same trenches orother features creating the portion of the interface that isperpendicular to the area of the substrate can be carried out in aconductor-semiconductor interface (e.g., a MESFET), or asemiconductor-semiconductor interface (e.g., a JFET), in addition to theconductor-insulator-semiconductor interface of MOS-based devices.

FIGS. 10A through 1011 show an exemplary process for fabricating theembodiment of the device 300 shown in FIGS. 3-6. As shown in FIG. 10A, asubstrate 400 having the semiconductor substrate 122 and an N− region402 is provided. The N− region 402 will form, among other things, thedrift region 124. (See also FIGS. 3 and 4). Other layers, such as ann-type current spreading layer above the drift region, may also beincluded, but are not shown here for clarity.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10B the P-base regions 126 and sourceregions 128 are formed using known implantation techniques. For example,the base region 126 may be formed by masking the central area 124 a ofthe N− region 402, and then implanting P-type ions into the device.Thereafter, a second mask can be applied to the allow implantation ofthe N-type ions to form the source region 128 using known techniques.Alternatively, a self-aligning process may be used to form the baseregions 126 and source regions 128 such as those discussed in U.S. Pat.Nos. 7,498,633 and 8,476,697. Other implants, such as, for example, acounter-doped channel or threshold-adjust implant may also be performedat this point, using procedures familiar to those skilled in the art.

Following the implantation steps discussed above, the implanted dopantsare activated in an annealing process. To this end, a carbon cap 404 isformed over the top surface of the device 400, as shown in FIG. 10C. Thecarbon cap 404 may suitably be formed of photoresist. For a device 400formed of an SiC substrate, the annealing step can be a high temperatureanneal of 1600° C. for 30 minutes. The annealing step recovers thecrystal structure from the damage done from the ion implantationprocess, and allows the dopants to take substitutional positions thelattice. The carbon cap 404 is thereafter removed in a conventionalmanner.

After the annealing step, the trenches 202, 204 are formed as shown inFIG. 10D. The trenches 202, 204 may suitably be formed by reactive ionetching, which creates good vertical walls. In an exemplary embodiment,SF6 may be used as the gas in the reactive ion etching process.

After etching the trenches 202, 204, a thin oxide layer 406 is formed ontop surface 110 b of the device 400 using thermal oxidation orlow-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The thermal oxidationmay suitably occur in a wet environment or a dry environment. Afteroxidation, a polysilicon layer 408 is provided on the surface 110 b overthe oxide layer 406. To this end, a conventional chemical vapordeposition process is employed (600° C. silane CVD). The polysiliconlayer 408 is then doped to increase the conductivity. The dopant maysuitably be phosphorus. The result of these processes are shown in FIG.10E. It is noted that because FIG. 10E is a front cutaway view, thetrenches are not visible. However, the oxide layer 406 and thepolysilicon layer 408 are conformal with the trenches 202, 204, and thuscover the walls thereof.

Thereafter, the polysilicon layer 408 is patterned into strips that formthe gate conductors 132 of the gate fingers 116. To pattern the gateconductors 132, the polysilicon layer 408 is masked such that theunexposed portions coincide with the location of the gate conductor 132and/or the gate fingers 116. The exposed portions are then etched awayand the mask removed. The result of this step is shown in FIG. 10F,which shows a single strip of the polysilicon layer 408 that forms thegate conductor 132.

An oxide layer 410 is then formed on the top and sides of thepolysilicon gate conductor 132. The oxide layer 410 only covers thesides and top of each polysilicon gate conductor 132, and not the oxidelayer 406 therebetween. The oxide layer 410 is formed to be thicker thanthe oxide layer 406. The result of this step is shown in FIG. 10G.

After the formation of the oxide layer 410, a light etching takes placeto remove the oxide layer 406, but not all of the oxide layer 410. Theetching may suitably be an HF etch. Thus, the source layer 128 has anexposed upper surface, and the gate region (gate conductor 132 and gateinsulator 134) is completed. The result of this step is shown in FIG.10H.

The source contact 130 is then formed using metal evaporation orsputtering, followed by a suitable high-temperature anneal to establisha low-resistance ohmic contact. The top metal contact 136 and the draincontact 120 may then be deposited using conventional means. The resultof this step is the device 100 of FIG. 3.

It will be appreciated that the above fabrication steps are merelyexemplary, and that those of ordinary skill in the art may readilydevise their own modifications to suit specific needs.

The present disclosure presents a novel three-dimensional-gate (3G)arrangement for a variety of switching devices including, but notlimited to, double-diffused or double-implanted MOSFETs (DMOSFETs),lateral MOSFETS, and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs); inwhich vertical trenches are formed perpendicular to the gate and sourcefingers, as shown in FIGS. 3-6, and 9. These trenches expose sidewallfaces as well as horizontal faces, without increasing cell area.Conformal gate oxides and polysilicon gates are formed over the trenchesso that the MOSFET channel includes both horizontal and verticalsurfaces, as shown in FIG. 6. This arrangement increases the effectivechannel width by 2-3 times (and with deeper wells, the effective channelwidth can be increased by 4-8 times). The additional current paths 224made possible by the embodiment of FIGS. 3-6 are illustrated in FIG. 7.

While not shown, the same three-dimensional-gate arrangement can beapplied to IGBT devices. In such a device, the substrate can bedescribed as being doped with a first dopant type of a first highconcentration, e.g., a P+ substrate. The collector of the IGBT iscoupled to the substrate. The drift region can be described as beingdoped with a second dopant of a first concentration, e.g., an N− driftregion. A base implant can be described as an implant doped with thefirst dopant type of a second high concentration, e.g., a P+ base. Theemitter region can be described as being doped with the second dopant ofsecond high concentration, e.g., an N+ emitter. It is understood thatthese doping polarities may also be inverted, i.e. the N-type regionschanged to P-type and the P-type regions changed to N-type.

It should also be noted that while polysilicon is described as gatematerial herein, other material are possible, such as metals, and inparticular, aluminum, molybdenum, or a bi-layer of gold over titanium.

The above illustrative embodiments employ a linear stripe geometrysurface pattern. In other words, they employ parallel gate fingers 112and source fingers 114 similar to those shown in the array of FIG. 2,with trenches running perpendicular to the fingers 112, 114. (See, e.g.FIG. 3). However, the three-dimensional gate/interface structure canalso be applied to other surface patterns, such as cellular surfacepatterns. In a cellular surface pattern, the individual MOSFETs (orIGBTs) are not formed as linear stripes, but instead in repeatedclosed-geometry patterns such as hexagons, squares, or other closedpolygons, similar to “islands”. These closed-geometry patterns aredistributed in a regular two-dimensional array across the top surface ofthe structure.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show, respectively, a top plan view and an orthogonalslice of such a device 510 employing a cellular surface layout ofrepeating square devices 512. The devices include a metallic sourcecontact 514, p-wells forming base regions 516 in a grid pattern, N-dopedsource regions 518 formed within the P-base regions 516, and below thesource contact 514. The drift region 520 extends below the P-baseregions 516, and between adjacent P-base regions 516. The structure ofthe semiconductor substrate and drain contact, not shown, may suitablybe the same as that of the device 110 of FIG. 3. The semiconductorsubstrate in this embodiment extends downward from the drift region 520.The gate structures, not shown, but which may take any suitable form,are disposed above the P-base regions 516, a portion of the sourceregions 518 and a portion of the drift regions 520.

In accordance with this embodiment of the invention, the trenches 522extend along the top surface such that within each individualclosed-geometry cell, the trenches 522 are oriented substantiallyperpendicular to the edges of the source regions 518 and the baseregions 516. The trenches 522 extend in a grid pattern, as opposed tomerely in stripes, as per FIG. 3.

Thus, the trenches 522, like those of FIG. 3 and FIGS. 11A and 11B, formadditional surface area at the interface between the gate structure andthe semiconductor regions 516, 518 and 520. Other layouts of trenchescan accommodate different cellular surface layouts, such as those havinghexagonal devices.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications canbe made to the specific implementations described above. Theimplementations should not be limited to the particular embodimentsdescribed. Other implementations may be possible.

1. A semiconductor device, comprising: at least a first lateral MOSFETformed on a semiconductor substrate, the first lateral MOSFET having aninterface defined by a plurality of trenches along which the currentflow can be modulated by a perpendicular electric field, wherein atleast a portion of the interface lies on a plane substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the substrate, the interface configuredsuch that at least a portion of the current flow along the portion ofthe interface that lies on a plane substantially perpendicular to theplane of the substrate is in a direction substantially parallel to theplane of the substrate.
 2. The semiconductor device of claim 1, whereina base region of the first lateral MOSFET is disposed below theplurality of trenches and has a substantially flat upper surface.
 3. Thesemiconductor device of claim 2, wherein said interface is aconductor-insulator-semiconductor interface.
 4. The semiconductor deviceof claim 2 wherein said interface is a conductor-semiconductorinterface.
 5. The semiconductor device of claim 2 wherein said interfaceis a semiconductor-semiconductor interface.
 6. The semiconductor deviceof claim 2 wherein the semiconductor substrate comprises an SiCsubstrate.
 7. The semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein thesemiconductor substrate comprises an SiC substrate.